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112-588: He was the first known European to reach present-day North Dakota and the upper Missouri River in the United States. In the 1740s, two of his sons crossed the prairie as far as present-day Wyoming , United States, and were the first Europeans to see the Rocky Mountains north of New Mexico. Born in Trois-Rivières , New France, Pierre was the eldest son of René Gaultier de Varennes , who came to Canada as

224-924: A Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota . They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation . About half of the Mandan still reside in the area of the reservation; the rest reside around the United States and in Canada. The Mandan historically lived along both banks of the Upper Missouri River and two of its tributaries—the Heart and Knife rivers—in present-day North and South Dakota . Speakers of Mandan ,

336-402: A Siouan language , they developed a settled, agrarian culture. They established permanent villages featuring large, round, earth lodges , some 40 feet (12 m) in diameter, surrounding a central plaza. Matrilineal families lived in the lodges. The Mandan were a great trading nation, trading especially their large corn surpluses with other tribes in exchange for bison meat and fat. Food was

448-463: A 12-hour period, from a low of -33 °F to a high of 50 °F. Another weather record set in Langdon in the winter of 1935–36, with the temperature staying below 0 °F (−17.8 °C) for 41 consecutive days, January 11 though February 20. This is a record for any location in the contiguous U.S.). At the 2023 estimate North Dakota's population was 783,926 on July 1, 2023, a 0.62% increase since

560-567: A Viking presence in and travel through the American Midwest exists. Sioux Indians attacked the Mandan village Nuptadi and set it on fire around 1785. The "turtles" used in the Okipa ceremony were saved. "When Nuptadi Village was burned by the Sioux ...", recounted Mandan woman Scattercorn, "... the turtles produced water which protected them ...". The Sioux kept consolidating their dominant position on

672-536: A captive Shoshone woman. Sacagawea accompanied the expedition as it traveled west, assisting them with information and translating skills as they journeyed toward the Pacific Ocean . Upon their return to the Mandan villages, Lewis and Clark took the Mandan Chief Sheheke (Coyote or Big White) with them to Washington to meet with President Thomas Jefferson . He returned to the upper Missouri. He had survived

784-660: A few hundred years later. They both assembled in villages on tributaries of the Missouri River in what would become west-central North Dakota. Crow Indians traveled the plains from the west to visit and trade with the related Hidatsas after the split between them, probably in the 17th century. Later came divisions of the Sioux : the Lakota , the Santee and the Yanktonai . The Assiniboine and

896-550: A few millimeters in length. He also documented 22 species of snails in the state. North Dakota has a continental climate with warm summers and cold winters. The temperature differences are significant because of its far inland position and being roughly equal distance from the North Pole and the Equator. °F (°C) °F (°C) On February 21, 1918, Granville, North Dakota experienced a record-breaking 83 °F temperature increase over

1008-403: A higher overall number . Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Throughout the mid-19th century, Dakota Territory was still dominated by Native Americans; warfare and disease reduced their population at the same time Europeans and Americans were settling in the area. Throughout

1120-655: A lake. Some Ethnologists and scholars studying the Mandan subscribe to the theory that, like other Siouan -speaking people (possibly including the Hidatsa), they originated in the area of the mid- Mississippi River and the Ohio River valleys in present-day Ohio . If this was the case, the Mandan would have migrated north into the Missouri River Valley and its tributary the Heart River in present-day North Dakota . That

1232-456: A large band of Assiniboines , he pushed southwest across the prairie and reached a Mandan village probably somewhere near the modern New Town, North Dakota , about 70 miles east of the Montana border. He did not push on to the Missouri River but sent his son Louis-Joseph to do it for him. In order to get rid of their numerous Assiniboine guests, the Mandan claimed that there was a Sioux war party in

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1344-623: A party in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 . They shared a mutual treaty area north of Heart River with the Hidatsa and the Arikara. Soon attacks on hunting parties by Lakota and other Sioux made it difficult for the Mandan to be safe in the treaty area. The tribes called for the United States Army to intervene, and they would routinely ask for such aid until the end of Lakota primacy. Despite

1456-547: A persistent myth that was widely written about. Evans had arrived in St. Louis two years prior, and after being imprisoned for a year, was hired by Spanish authorities to lead an expedition to chart the upper Missouri. Evans spent the winter of 1796–97 with the Mandan but found no evidence of any Welsh influence. In July 1797 he wrote to Dr. Samuel Jones, "Thus having explored and charted the Missurie for 1,800 miles and by my Communications with

1568-480: A plan. La Vérendrye would build a post on Lake Winnipeg. The expedition would be paid for by Quebec merchants who hoped to profit from the resulting fur trade . This financing was fragile because the merchants lacked the capital and organization to efficiently move supplies so far to the west. An additional goal was to divert furs from being traded to the British on Hudson Bay. In the absence of government funds, exploration

1680-546: A soldier in 1665, and Marie, the daughter of Pierre Boucher , the first Governor of Trois-Rivières. The Gaultier family were minor nobility or landowners who came from the Anjou area of France . Varennes and La Vérendrye were 2 of their estates. Pierre's father died when he was 3, and he was educated at the Jesuit seminary in Quebec. At the age of twelve he received a cadet's commission in

1792-607: Is a landlocked U.S. state in the Upper Midwest , named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux . It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south, and Montana to the west. North Dakota is part of the Great Plains region, characterized by broad prairies , steppe , temperate savanna , badlands , and farmland. North Dakota

1904-572: Is believed to host the geographic center of North America, Rugby , and is home to what was once the tallest artificial structure in the Western Hemisphere , the KVLY-TV mast . Native American people lived in what is now North Dakota for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. The known tribes included the Mandan people (from around the 11th century), while the first Hidatsa group arrived

2016-460: Is home to three freshwater shrimp species, gammarus, hyalella and mysis. The latter is an introduced species stocked in Lake Sakakawea in the early 1970s to add to the forage base. Cvancara's Aquatic Mussels of North Dakota from 1983. He documented 13 species of what are generally referred to as clams in the state along with 13 species of pill clams, which are very small clams, in the order of

2128-643: Is land, North Dakota is the 19th largest state. The western half of the state consists of the hilly Great Plains as well as the northern part of the Badlands , which are to the west of the Missouri River . The state's high point, White Butte at 3,506 feet (1,069 m), and Theodore Roosevelt National Park are in the Badlands. The region is abundant in fossil fuels including natural gas , crude oil and lignite coal. The Missouri River forms Lake Sakakawea ,

2240-417: Is legendary. The Mandan maintained the stockade around Mitutanka Village when threats were present. Major fights were fought. "We destroyed fifty tepees [of Sioux]. The following summer thirty men in a war party were killed", tells the Mandan winter count of Butterfly for 1835–1836. The big war party was neutralized by Yanktonai Sioux Indians. Mitutanka, now occupied by Arikaras as well as some Mandans,

2352-417: Is the 19th-largest state , but with a population of less than 780,000, it is the fourth-least populous and fourth-most sparsely populated . The state capital is Bismarck while the most populous city is Fargo , which accounts for nearly a fifth of the state's population; both cities are among the fastest-growing in the U.S., although half of all residents live in rural areas. What is now North Dakota

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2464-551: Is unknown. It is estimated that at the time of his visit, 15,000 Mandan resided in the nine well-fortified villages on the Heart River; the villages held a total of 1,000 lodges. According to Vérendrye, the Mandans at that time were a large, powerful, prosperous nation who were able to dictate trade on their own terms. They traded with other Native Americans both from the north and the south, from downriver. Horses were acquired by

2576-413: Is where Europeans first encountered the historical tribe. This migration is believed to have occurred possibly as early as the 7th century but probably between 1000 CE and the 13th century, after the cultivation of maize was adopted. It was a period of a major climatic shift, creating warmer, wetter conditions that favored their agricultural production. After their arrival on the banks of the Heart River,

2688-405: The 2020 United States census . North Dakota is the fourth least-populous state in the country; only Alaska , Vermont , and Wyoming have fewer residents. From fewer than 2,000 people in 1870, North Dakota's population grew to near 680,000 by 1930. Growth then slowed, and the population fluctuated slightly over the next seven decades, hitting a low of 617,761 in the 1970 census, with 642,200 in

2800-790: The Democratic Party after World War II ). It tried to insulate North Dakota from the power of out-of-state banks and corporations. In addition to founding the state-owned Bank of North Dakota and North Dakota Mill and Elevator (both still in existence), the NPL established a state-owned railroad line (later sold to the Soo Line Railroad ). Anti-corporate laws virtually prohibited a corporation or bank from owning title to land zoned as farmland. These laws, still in force today, after having been upheld by state and federal courts, make it almost impossible to foreclose on farmland, as even after foreclosure,

2912-715: The French Marines in Canada . In 1704 and 1705 La Vérendrye took part in the raids of Queen Anne's War , which was waged by colonists in the English and French areas of North America. He was present at the Raid on Deerfield in present-day Massachusetts. The French and their Abenaki allies took more than a hundred captives from the village, forcing them on the 300-mile journey through the wilderness to return to Montreal. During those years, both sides often took captives for ransom. The next year La Vérendrye participated in an unsuccessful attack on

3024-582: The Kensington Runestone , anthropologist Alice Beck Kehoe dismissed, as "tangential" to the Runestone issue this and other historical references suggesting pre-Columbian contacts with 'outsiders', such as the Hochunk (Winnebago) story about an ancestral hero " Red Horn " and his encounter with "red-haired giants". Archaeologist Ken Feder has stated that none of the material evidence that would be expected from

3136-468: The Mandan villages in 1738 guided by Assiniboine Indians. From 1762 to 1802, the region formed part of Spanish Louisiana . European Americans settled in Dakota Territory only sparsely until the late 19th century, when railroads opened up the region. With the advantage of grants of land, they vigorously marketed their properties, extolling the region as ideal for agriculture. Differences between

3248-805: The Mandan–;Welsh connection was also supported by George Catlin , but researchers have found no evidence of such ancestry. Mandan has different grammatical forms that depend on the sex of the addressee . Questions asked of men must use the suffix -oʔša while the suffix -oʔrą is used when asking of women. Likewise the indicative suffix is -oʔs when addressing men and -oʔre when addressing women, and also for imperatives : -ta (male), -rą (female). Mandan, like many other North American languages, has elements of sound symbolism in their vocabulary. A /s/ sound often denotes smallness/less intensity, /ʃ/ denotes medium-ness, /x/ denotes largeness/greater intensity: The exact origins and early history of

3360-571: The Plains Cree undertook southward journeys to the village Indians, either for trade or for war. The Shoshone Indians in present-day Wyoming and Montana may have carried out attacks on Indian enemies as far east as the Missouri. A group of Cheyennes lived in a village of earth lodges at the lower Sheyenne River ( Biesterfeldt Site ) for decades in the 18th century. Due to attacks by Crees, Assiniboines and Chippewas armed with firearms , they left

3472-673: The Red River of the North with Minnesota to the east. South Dakota is to the south, Montana is to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are to the north. North Dakota is near the middle of North America with a stone marker in Rugby, North Dakota marking the "Geographic Center of the North American Continent". With an area of 70,762 square miles (183,273 km ), 69,001 square miles (178,712 km ) of which

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye - Misplaced Pages Continue

3584-719: The gray wolf , swift fox , caribou and grizzly bear . List of insects of North Dakota 1,126 Species known in North Dakota List of fish of North Dakota 98 Species are currently known in North Dakota List of reptiles/amphibians of North Dakota Archived March 2, 2023, at the Wayback Machine 16 Species of Reptiles and 12 Amphibians found in the state. List of crustaceans/mussels of North Dakota Three species of crawfish are found in North Dakota: Devil, Calico, and Virile North Dakota

3696-563: The "Pheasant people." George Catlin said the Mandans (or See-pohs-kah-nu-mah-kah-kee , "people of the pheasants", as they call themselves) The Mandan language or Nų́ų́ʔetaa íroo belongs to the Siouan language family . It was initially thought to be closely related to the languages of the Hidatsa and the Crow . However, since the Mandan language has been in contact with Hidatsa and Crow for many years,

3808-686: The 'River of the West'. The correct one was the Saskatchewan River , which flows east into Lake Winnipeg. The other was the Missouri River in the Mandan country in what is now North Dakota, United States. The Mandan were said to live in big houses and resemble Frenchmen. La Vérendrye picked the Missouri. In September 1738 he reached Fort Maurepas on Lake Winnipeg and ascended the Assiniboine River to Portage la Prairie , where he built Fort La Reine just south of Lake Manitoba (October 1738). Joining

3920-434: The 16th century and had been hit by similar epidemics every few decades. Between 1837 and 1838, another smallpox epidemic swept the region. In June 1837, an American Fur Company steamboat traveled westward up the Missouri River from St. Louis. Its passengers and traders aboard infected the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes. There were approximately 1,600 Mandan living in the two villages at that time. The disease killed 90% of

4032-796: The 2000 census. In the 21st Century North Dakota has experienced significant growth reaching a record population of 783,926 in 2023. Except for Native Americans , the North Dakota population has a lesser percentage of minorities than in the nation as a whole. As of 2011, 20.7% of North Dakota's population younger than age   1 were minorities. The center of population of North Dakota is in Wells County , near Sykeston . According to HUD 's 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report , there were an estimated 784 homeless people in North Dakota. Note: Births in table don't add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving

4144-508: The American Indian , blames Captain Pratte of the steamboat St. Peter for failing to quarantine passengers and crew once the epidemic broke out, stating that while not guilty of premeditated genocide, but he was guilty of contributing to the deaths of thousands of innocent people. The law calls his offence criminal negligence. Yet in light of all the deaths, the almost complete annihilation of

4256-528: The Arikara in defense against the Lakota.) The nine villages had consolidated into two villages in the 1780s, one on each side of the Missouri. But they continued their famous hospitality, and the Lewis and Clark expedition stopped near their villages for the winter because of it. In honor of their hosts, the expedition dubbed the settlement they constructed Fort Mandan. It was here that Lewis and Clark first met Sacagawea ,

4368-650: The Dakotas was admitted first. However, since North Dakota alphabetically appears before South Dakota , its proclamation was published first in the Statutes At Large. Unrest among wheat farmers, especially among Norwegian immigrants , led to a populist political movement centered in the Non Partisan League ("NPL") around the time of World War I . The NPL ran candidates on the Republican ticket (but merged into

4480-678: The English settlement of St. John's, Newfoundland . At age 22, he enlisted in the French Army, and fought in Flanders during the War of the Spanish Succession ; he was seriously wounded at the Battle of Malplaquet . After recovering from his injuries and being given paroled as a prisoner of war , Gaultier returned to Canada and married Marie-Anne, daughter of Louis Dandonneau, Sieur Du Sablé, in 1712. For

4592-569: The French archives. Morton thinks they may have gotten as far as Lake Winnipeg. In 1716 a memoir drawn up by Governor Vaudreuil showed lakes and portages as far as Lake of the Woods, from which flowed a river to the " Sea of the West ". This implies that Frenchmen had explored west of Lake Superior before Vérendrye did so. La Vérendrye questioned the Natives who came to trade. He learned of the Mandan country on

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye - Misplaced Pages Continue

4704-531: The Hidatsa people also moved into the region. They also spoke a Siouan language. Mandan tradition states that the Hidatsa were a nomadic tribe until their encounter with the Mandan, who taught them to build stationary villages and cultivate agriculture. The Hidatsa continued to maintain amicable relations with the Mandan and constructed villages north of them on the Knife River . Later the Pawnee and Arikara moved from

4816-687: The Indians this side of the Pacific Ocean from 35 to 49 degrees of Latitude, I am able to inform you that there is no such People as the Welsh Indians." British and French Canadians from the north carried out more than twenty fur-trading expeditions down to the Hidatsa and Mandan villages in the years 1794 to 1800. By 1804 when Lewis and Clark visited the tribe, the number of Mandan had been greatly reduced by smallpox epidemics and warring bands of Assiniboine , Lakota and Arikara . (Later they joined with

4928-449: The Jesuit missionary priest Jean-Pierre Aulneau who accompanied them, were killed by the Sioux on Massacre Island in Lake of the Woods. La Vérendrye restrained the local Cree from a war of revenge in order to protect the fur trade. In 1737 La Vérendrye returned to Quebec on business. In Paris, Maurepas was pushing for more exploration. By this time explorers had identified two candidates as

5040-543: The Mandan Mayádąna . He had previously heard the earth lodge peoples referred to by the Cree as Ouachipouennes , "the Sioux who go underground". The Assiniboine are Siouan speakers. Nearby Siouan speakers had exonyms similar to Mantannes in their languages, for instance, Teton Miwáthaŋni or Miwátąni , Yanktonai Miwátani , Yankton Mawátani or Mąwátanį , Dakota Mawátąna or Mawátadą , etc. The Mandan have used differing autonyms to refer to themselves: Numakaki (Nųmą́khų́·ki) (or Rųwą́ʔka·ki) ("many men, people")

5152-417: The Mandan are unknown. Early studies by linguists gave evidence that the Mandan language may have been closely related to the language of the Ho-Chunk or Winnebago people of present-day Wisconsin . Scholars theorize the Mandans' ancestors may have settled in the Wisconsin area at one time. This idea is possibly confirmed in their oral history , which refers to their having come from an eastern location near

5264-466: The Mandan constructed several villages, the largest of which were at the mouth of the river. Archeological evidence and ground imaging radar have revealed changes in the defensive boundaries of these villages over time. The people built new ditches and palisades circumscribing smaller areas as their populations reduced. What was known as Double Ditch Village was located on the east bank of the Missouri River, north of where present-day Bismarck developed. It

5376-421: The Mandan in the mid-18th century from the Apache to the South. The Mandan used them both for transportation, to carry packs and pull travois, and for hunting. The horses helped with the expansion of Mandan hunting territory on to the Plains. The encounter with the French from Canada in the 18th century created a trading link between the French and Native Americans of the region; the Mandan served as middlemen in

5488-470: The Mandan people, effectively destroying their settlements. Almost all of the tribe's members, including the second chief , Four Bears, died. Estimates of the number of survivors vary from 27 up to 150 persons, with some sources placing the number at 125. The survivors banded together with the nearby surviving Hidatsa in 1845 and moved upriver, where they developed Like-a-Fishhook Village. The Mandan believed that they had been infected by whites associated with

5600-427: The Mandan were the "Welsh Indians" of folklore, descendants of Prince Madoc and his followers who had emigrated to America from Wales in about 1170. This view was popular at the time but has since been disputed by the bulk of scholarship. Hjalmar Holand has proposed that interbreeding with Norse survivors might explain the "blond" Indians among the Mandan on the Upper Missouri River. In a multidisciplinary study of

5712-446: The Mandans, and the terrible suffering the region endured, the label criminal negligence is benign, hardly befitting an action that had such horrendous consequences. Some scholars who have argued that the transmission of smallpox to Native Americans during the 1836-40 epidemic was intentional, including Ann F. Ramenofsky who asserted in 1987: " Variola Major can be transmitted through contaminated articles such as clothing or blankets. In

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5824-491: The North Dakota Bird Records Committee (NDBRC) review list with some additions from Avibase . The combined lists contain 420 species. Of them, 194 and a subspecies are on the review list (see below). The NDGFD list considers 44 species to be accidental, and eight species have been introduced to North America. List of mammals of North Dakota 87 species are known to live in the state. This includes mammals that are currently extirpated or locally extinct in North Dakota such as

5936-604: The Pacific called the mer du couchant , similar to the equally mythical Strait of Annian . They thought also that travelers could cross the height of land and find a River of the West that flowed all the way to the Pacific. (For the area to be explored see Early Canadian canoe routes, Nelson River Basin .) In 1688 Jacques de Noyon had reached Rainy Lake . In 1717 Zacharie Robutel de La Noue tried to reach Rainy Lake but succeeded only in establishing Fort Kaministiquia . The British on Hudson Bay heard reports of coureurs des bois west of Lake Superior, but they left no records in

6048-440: The Republican River north along the Missouri River. They were Caddoan language speakers, and the Arikara were often early competitors with the Mandan, although both were horticulturalists. They built a settlement known as Crow Creek village on a bluff above the Missouri. The modern town of Chamberlain, South Dakota developed about eleven miles south of here. The Mandan were divided into bands. The Nup'tadi (does not translate)

6160-462: The Rocky Mountains ) He worked to consolidate his hold on the chain of lakes that look like a single lake west of Lake Winnipeg, establishing Fort Dauphin (Manitoba) , Fort Bourbon and Fort Paskoya . Back in France, Maurepas was growing increasingly irritated with La Vérendrye, who he thought was trading in furs when he should be exploring. In 1742 Maurepas suggested that he be replaced. In 1743 La Vérendrye resigned. He returned to New France and led

6272-556: The Saskatchewan. In 1756 the western command was given to Pierre's son Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye , but he was unable to travel to the west. During the French and Indian War (1754-1763), the North American front of the Seven Years' War , the French gradually abandoned the western posts. With France's defeat, the British took control of New France territory east of the Mississippi River. Numerous places were named in his honour: North Dakota North Dakota ( / d ə ˈ k oʊ t ə / də- KOH -tə )

6384-475: The Tennessee River, Florida, the Gulf Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard. The Mandan gradually moved upriver, and consolidated in present-day North Dakota by the fifteenth century. From 1500 to about 1782, the Mandan reached the height of their population and influence. Their villages showed increasing densities as well as stronger fortifications, for instance at Huff Village. It had 115 large lodges with more than 1,000 residents. The bands did not often move along

6496-413: The area and in 1728 was appointed as commandant when his brother left to fight the Fox Indians . He became involved with the quest to find a route to the Pacific, what was known as the Northwest Passage. Under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht , Great Britain had taken control of Hudson Bay and thereby blocked the French from using that area. At this time people thought that not far to the west was an inlet from

6608-432: The area around 1780 and crossed Missouri some time after. A band of the few Sotaio Indians lived east of Missouri River and met the uprooted Cheyennes before the end of the century. They soon followed the Cheyennes across Missouri and lived among them south of Cannonball River . Eventually, the Cheyenne and the Sutaio became one tribe and turned into mounted buffalo hunters with ranges mainly outside North Dakota. Before

6720-478: The area. The Assiniboines fled, taking with them the Cree interpreter. Unable to talk to the Mandan, La Vérendrye left two Frenchmen to learn the language and returned to Fort La Reine (January 1739). In 1740 he returned to Quebec on business, and in 1741 started on his fourth and last journey west. From Fort La Reine he sent his son Louis-Joseph exploring westward as far as, probably, the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming (1742–43). (See: Verendrye brothers' journey to

6832-468: The command of poste du Nord , but accomplished little. After the elder La Vérendrye's death, the new governor Jonquière forced his sons out of their father's patrimony. Control of the west was given to Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre (1750–53). He built Fort La Jonquière somewhere on the Saskatchewan, but failed in an attempt to ascend that river. He was followed by Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne (1753-1756). He built Fort de la Corne on

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6944-402: The disease throughout their territory. Other warring and trading peoples also became infected. The Mandan lost so many people that the number of clans was reduced from thirteen to seven; three clan names from villages west of the Missouri were lost altogether. They eventually moved northward about 25 miles, and consolidated into two villages, one on each side of the river, as they rebuilt following

7056-410: The epidemic. Similarly afflicted, the much reduced Hidatsa people joined them for defense. Through and after the epidemic, they were raided by Lakota Sioux and Crow warriors. In 1796 the Mandan were visited by the Welsh explorer John Evans , who was hoping to find proof that their language contained Welsh words. Numerous European Americans held that there were Welsh Indians in these remote areas,

7168-463: The epidemic. The many variations of this account have been criticized by both historians and contemporaries as fiction, a fabrication intended to assuage the guilt of white settlers for displacing the Indians. "The blanket affair was created afterward and is not to be credited", notes B. A. Mann. Given trade and travel patterns, there were numerous ways for people to have been infected, as they had been in earlier, also severe, epidemics. The Mandan were

7280-630: The exact relationship between Mandan and other Siouan languages (including Hidatsa and Crow) has been obscured. For this reason, linguists classify Mandan most often as a separate branch of the Siouan family. Mandan has two main dialects : Nuptare and Nuetare . Only the Nuptare variety survived into the 20th century, and all speakers were bilingual in Hidatsa. Linguist Mauricio Mixco of the University of Utah has been involved in fieldwork with remaining speakers since 1993. As of 1999 , there were only six fluent speakers of Mandan still alive. As of 2010 , programs in local schools encourage students' learning

7392-495: The ground on December 28, 1930. It was replaced by a limestone -faced art-deco skyscraper that still stands today. A round of federal investment and construction projects began in the 1950s, including the Garrison Dam and the Minot and Grand Forks Air Force bases. Western North Dakota saw a boom in oil exploration in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as rising petroleum prices made development profitable. This boom came to an end after petroleum prices declined. In 2010,

7504-498: The hills around Devils Lake, in the dunes area of McHenry County in central North Dakota, and along the Sheyenne Valley slopes and the Sheyenne delta. This diverse terrain supports nearly 2,000 species of plants. Soil is North Dakota's most precious resource. It is the base of the state's great agricultural wealth. North Dakota also has enormous mineral resources. These mineral resources include billions of tons of lignite coal. In addition, North Dakota has large oil reserves. Petroleum

7616-417: The increase. North Dakota is located in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. It lies at the center of the North American continent and borders Canada to the north. The geographic center of North America is near the town of Rugby . Bismarck is the capital of North Dakota, and Fargo is the most populous city. North Dakota is in the U.S. region known as the Great Plains . The state shares

7728-441: The language. The Mandan and their language received much attention from European Americans , in part because their lighter skin color caused speculation they were of European origin. In the 1830s, Prince Maximilian of Wied spent more time recording Mandan over all other Siouan languages and additionally prepared a comparison list of Mandan and Welsh words (he thought that the Mandan may have been displaced Welsh). The theory of

7840-401: The largest natural lake in the state, is also found in the east. Most of the state is covered in grassland ; crops cover most of eastern North Dakota but become increasingly sparse in the center and farther west. Natural trees in North Dakota are found usually where there is good drainage, such as the ravines and valley near the Pembina Gorge and Killdeer Mountains , the Turtle Mountains ,

7952-466: The latter half of the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century, North Dakota, along with most of the Midwest U.S., experienced a mass influx of newcomers from both the eastern United States and immigrants from Europe. North Dakota was a known popular destination for immigrant farmers and general laborers and their families, mostly from Norway , Iceland , Sweden , Germany and the United Kingdom . Much of this settlement gravitated throughout

8064-446: The life of a gentleman while doing a considerable business since his sons remained as traders in the west. In 1746 he was reappointed to his old post. He was planning the fifth expedition, this time up the Saskatchewan River , when he died on December 5, 1749. Shortly before his death, he was awarded the Order of Saint Louis . From 1744 to 1746 Nicolas-Joseph de Noyelles de Fleurimont held

8176-416: The lowest in the United States. In recent years, however, while still below the national average, crime has risen sharply. In 2016, the violent crime rate was three times higher than in 2004, with the rise occurring mostly in the late 2000s, coinciding with the oil boom era. This happened at a time when the national violent crime rate declined slightly. Workers in the oil boom towns have been blamed for much of

8288-629: The maneuvering of the Europeans. French traders in St. Louis also sought to establish direct overland communication between Santa Fé and their city; the fur trading Chouteau brothers gained a Spanish monopoly on trade with Santa Fe. A smallpox epidemic broke out in Mexico City in 1779/1780. It slowly spread northward through the Spanish empire, by trade and warfare, reaching the northern plains in 1781. The Comanche and Shoshone had become infected and carried

8400-526: The middle of the 19th century, the Arikara entered the future state from the south and joined the Mandan and Hidatsa. With time, a number of Indians entered into treaties with the United States. Many of the treaties defined the territory of a specific tribe. The first European to reach the area was the French-Canadian trader Pierre Gaultier, sieur de La Vérendrye , who led an exploration and trading party to

8512-455: The mouth of the Red River at the southern end of the lake. In 1734 La Vérendrye went to Quebec to reorganize the finances and returned to the western post the following spring. In 1734 more than half the beaver pelts reaching Quebec came from La Vérendrye's posts. But by 1736 it was clear that the supply system was not working, and Jean-Baptiste was forced to go to Lake Superior for supplies. He along with 20 other Frenchmen, 19 voyageurs including

8624-618: The next 15 years, he supported his family by farming and fur trading along the Saint Lawrence. In 1726 his fortunes changed when his brother Jacques-René was appointed the commander of the poste du Nord . This was the north shore of Lake Superior with three main posts: Fort Kaministiquia , which was a terminus for the main route west; a post at the mouth of the Nipigon River ; and one near the future site of Wawa, Ontario , which had river connections to James Bay. La Vérendrye began trading in

8736-511: The nineteenth century, the U.S. Army sent contaminated blankets to Native Americans, especially Plains groups, to control the Indian problem." The Commissioner of Indian Affairs had refused to send the vaccine to the Mandans, apparently not thinking them worthy of protection. Some accounts repeat a story that an Indian sneaked aboard the St. Peter and stole a blanket from an infected passenger, thus starting

8848-443: The northern and southern part caused resentments between the settlers. The northern part was seen by the more populated southern part as somewhat disreputable, "too much controlled by the wild folks, cattle ranchers, fur traders" and too frequently the site of conflict with the indigenous population. The northern part was generally content with remaining a territory. However, following the territorial capital being moved from Yankton in

8960-410: The northern plains. In the words of "Cheyenne warrior" and Lakota-allied George Bent : "... the Sioux moved to the Missouri and began raiding these two tribes, until at last the Mandans and Rees [Arikaras] hardly dared go into the plains to hunt buffalo". The Arikara Indians were from time to time also among the foes of the Mandans. Chief Four Bears's revenge on the Arikara, who had killed his brother,

9072-469: The ocean. In 1731 La Vérendrye, three of his sons and 50 engagés left Montreal. That autumn his son Jean-Baptiste built Fort St. Pierre on Rainy Lake . Next year they built Fort St. Charles on Lake of the Woods , which became his headquarters for the next several years. In 1733 Jean-Baptiste got within 20 miles of Lake Winnipeg but was blocked by ice and lack of supplies. In 1734 their party reached Lake Winnipeg. Jean-Baptiste built Fort Maurepas near

9184-569: The only state-run bank in the U.S. Beginning in the mid-20th century, North Dakota's rich natural resources became more critical to economic development; into the 21st century, oil extraction from the Bakken formation in the northwest has played a major role in the state's prosperity. Such development has led to population growth (along with high birth rates) and reduced unemployment. It ranks relatively well in metrics such as infrastructure, quality of life , economic opportunity, and public safety. It

9296-515: The primary item, but they also traded for horses, guns, and other trade goods. The Mandan population was 3,600 in the early 18th century. It is estimated to have been 10,000–15,000 before European encounter. Decimated by a widespread smallpox epidemic in 1781, the people had to abandon several villages, and remnants of the Hidatsa also gathered with them in a reduced number of villages. In 1836, there were more than 1,600 full-blood Mandans but, following another smallpox epidemic in 1836–37, this number

9408-501: The proclamations formally admitting North Dakota and South Dakota to the Union on November 2, 1889. There was a rivalry between the two new states that which one would be admitted first. So Harrison directed Secretary of State James G. Blaine to shuffle the papers and obscure from him which he was signing first to keep both the states happy and to avoid showing favor to either state. The actual order went unrecorded, thus no one knows which of

9520-559: The property title cannot be held by a bank or mortgage company. Furthermore, the Bank of North Dakota, having powers similar to a Federal Reserve branch bank, exercised its power to limit the issuance of subprime mortgages and their collateralization in the form of derivative instruments, and so prevented a collapse of housing prices within the state in the wake of 2008's financial crisis. The original North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck burned to

9632-510: The region in the early 19th century, gradually settling it amid growing resistance by increasingly displaced natives. The Dakota Territory , established in 1861, became central to American pioneers , with the Homestead Act of 1862 precipitating significant population growth and development. The traditional fur trade declined in favor of farming, particularly of wheat. The subsequent Dakota Boom from 1878 to 1886 saw giant farms stretched across

9744-534: The river until the late 18th century, after their populations plummeted due to smallpox and other epidemics. The Koatiouak , mentioned in a 1736 letter by Jesuit Jean-Pierre Aulneau , are identified as Mandans. Aulneau was killed before his planned expedition to visit the Mandans could take place. The first European known to visit the Mandan was the French Canadian trade Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738. The Mandans carried him into their village, whose location

9856-559: The rolling prairies, with the territory becoming a regional economic power. The Northern Pacific and Great Northern railway companies competed for access to lucrative grain centers; farmers banded together in political and socioeconomic alliances that were core to the broader Populist Movement of the Midwest. North and South Dakota were admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, as the 39th and 40th states. President Benjamin Harrison shuffled

9968-453: The sacred annual Okipa ceremony. During the winter months of 1833 and 1834, Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and Swiss artist Karl Bodmer stayed with the Mandan. 18th-century reports about characteristics of Mandan lodges, religion and occasional physical features among tribal members, such as blue and grey eyes along with lighter hair coloring, stirred speculation about the possibility of pre-Columbian European contact . Catlin believed

10080-459: The smallpox epidemic of 1781, but in 1812 Chief Sheheke was killed in a battle with Hidatsa . In 1825 the Mandans signed a peace treaty with the leaders of the Atkinson-O'Fallon Expedition. The treaty required that the Mandans recognize the supremacy of the United States, admit that they reside on United States territory, and relinquish all control and regulation of trade to the United States. This

10192-428: The southern part to Bismarck, the southern part began to call for division. Finally, at the 1887 territorial election, the voters approved splitting the territory into two. The division was done by the seventh standard parallel. Other account(s) state that the real reason for the split was a political lure for four Republican senators instead of two from the Republican dominated Dakota Territory and in their push to split

10304-413: The state had lower rates of unemployment than the national average, and increased job and population growth. Much of the growth has been based on development of the Bakken oil fields in the western part of the state. Estimates as to the remaining amount of oil in the area vary, with some estimating over 100 years' worth. For decades, North Dakota's annual murder and violent crime rates were regularly

10416-466: The statehood papers before signing them so that no one could tell which became a state first; consequently, the two states are officially numbered in alphabetical order. Statehood marked the gradual winding-down of the pioneer period, with the state fully settled by around 1920. Subsequent decades saw a rise in radical agrarian movements and economic cooperatives, of which one legacy is the Bank of North Dakota ,

10528-509: The steamboat and Fort Clark. Chief Four Bears reportedly said, while ailing, "a set of Black harted [ sic ] Dogs, they have deceived Me, them that I always considered as Brothers, has turned Out to be My Worst enemies". Francis Chardon, in his Journal at Fort Clark 1834–1839 , wrote that the Gros Ventres (ie. Hidatsa), "swear vengeance against all the Whites, as they say the small pox

10640-653: The term Nų́ʔetaa / Rų́ʔeta was extended to refer to a general tribal entity. The name Mi-ah´ta-nēs recorded by Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden in 1862 reportedly means "people on the river bank", but this may be a folk etymology . Various other terms and alternate spellings that occur in the literature include: Mayátana, Mayátani, Mąwádanį, Mąwádąδį, Huatanis, Mandani, Wahtani, Mantannes, Mantons, Mendanne, Mandanne, Mandians, Maw-dân, Meandans, les Mandals, Me-too´-ta-häk, Numakshi, Rųwą́'kši, Wíhwatann, Mevatan, Mevataneo. Gloria Jahoda in Trail of Tears states that they also call themselves

10752-485: The territory, Republican congressmen also ignored the uncomfortable fact that much of the land in the anticipated state of South Dakota belonged to the Sioux. Congress passed an omnibus bill for statehood for North Dakota, South Dakota , Montana , and Washington , titled the Enabling Act of 1889 , on February 22, 1889, during the administration of President Grover Cleveland . His successor, Benjamin Harrison , signed

10864-608: The third largest artificial lake in the United States, behind the Garrison Dam . The central region of the state is divided into the Drift Prairie and the Missouri Plateau . The eastern part of the state consists of the flat Red River Valley , the bottom of glacial Lake Agassiz . Its fertile soil, drained by the meandering Red River flowing northward into Lake Winnipeg , supports a large agriculture industry. Devils Lake ,

10976-580: The trade in furs, horses, guns , crops, and buffalo products. Spanish merchants and officials in St. Louis (after France had ceded its territory west of the Mississippi River to Spain in 1763) explored the Missouri and strengthened relations with the Mandan (whom they called Mandanas ). They wanted to discourage trade in the region by the English and the Americans, but the Mandan carried on open trade with all competitors. They were not going to be limited by

11088-505: The treaty, the Mandan received little protection from US forces. In the summer of 1862, the Arikara joined the Mandan and Hidatsa in Like-a-Fishhook Village on the upper Missouri. All three tribes were forced to live outside their treaty area south of the Missouri by the frequent raiding of Lakota and other Sioux. Before the end of 1862, some Sioux Indians set fire to part of a Like-a-Fishhook Village. In June 1874, there "was

11200-423: The upper Missouri River. These people were described as white men who lived in big houses. Auchagah, a Cree guide, made a map of the canoe routes between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg based on his and other Cree experience. La Vérendrye judged correctly that Lake Winnipeg was the geographic key which had to be reached to allow further exploration. In 1730 he met Governor Beauharnois at Quebec and worked out

11312-678: The western side of the Red River Valley , as was similarly seen in South Dakota and in a parallel manner in Minnesota. This area is well known for its fertile lands. By the outbreak of the First World War , this was among North America's richest farming regions. But a period of higher rainfall ended, and many migrants were not successful in the arid conditions. Many family plots were too small to farm successfully. Mandan The Mandan are

11424-633: Was brought here by the S[team] B[oat]." (Chardon, Journal, p. 126). In the earliest detailed study of the event, in The American Fur Trade of the Far West (1902), Hiram M. Chittenden blamed the American Fur Company for the epidemic. Oral traditions of the affected tribes continue to claim that whites were to blame for the disease. R. G. Robertson in his book Rotting Face: Smallpox and

11536-507: Was burned by Yankton Sioux Indians on January 9, 1839. "... the small Pox last year, very near annihilated the Whole [Mandan] tribe, and the Sioux has finished the Work of destruction by burning the village". In 1845, the Hidatsa moved some 20 miles north, crossed the Missouri and built Like-a-Fishhook Village . Many Mandans joined for common protection. The Mandan were first plagued by smallpox in

11648-609: Was carried out by the women, including the drying and processing of corn. The Mandan-Hidatsa settlements, called the "Marketplace of the Central Plains", were major hubs of trade in the Great Plains Indian trading networks . Crops were exchanged, along with other goods that traveled from as far as the Pacific Northwest Coast. Investigation of their sites on the northern Plains have revealed items traceable as well to

11760-476: Was dependent on financing from the fur trade. It is not clear whether La Vérendrye was genuinely interested in exploration or whether exploration was a pretext for expansion of the fur trade. Maurepas , the French Minister of Marine, was very interested in exploration, but would not provide funds. According to Pehr Kalm , La Vérendrye was acting upon orders given by de Beauharnois to explore until he could reach

11872-980: Was discovered in the state in 1951 and quickly became one of North Dakota's most valuable mineral resources. In the early 2000s, the emergence of hydraulic fracturing technologies enabled mining companies to extract huge amounts of oil from the Bakken shale rock formation in the western part of the state. North Dakota public lands 5 national parks, 5 state forests, 63 national wildlife refuges, 3 national grassland, and 13 state parks plus there are state trust land, bureau of land management, waterfowl production areas, bureau of reclamation, bureau of land management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state wildlife management areas North Dakota wildlife Currently there are 36 Level I species, 44 Level II species, and 35 Level III species. List of birds of North Dakota The basic NDGFD list contains 420 confirmed and extant species, two extinct species. Three additional species have been added from

11984-629: Was estimated to have dropped to 125 by 1838. In the 20th century, the people began to recover. In the 1990s, 6,000 people were enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes. In the 2010 Census, 1,171 people reported Mandan ancestry. Some 365 of them identified as full-bloods, and 806 had partial Mandan ancestry. The English name Mandan is derived from the French-Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier, Sieur de la Verendrye , who in 1738 heard it as Mantannes from his Assiniboine guides, which call

12096-451: Was in exchange for annual payments that were never received. The Mandan and the United States Army never met in open warfare. In 1832, artist George Catlin visited the Mandan near Fort Clark . Catlin painted and drew scenes of Mandan life as well as portraits of chiefs, including Four Bears or Ma-to-toh-pe . His skill at rendering so impressed Four Bears that he invited Catlin as the first man of European descent to be allowed to watch

12208-531: Was inclusive and not limited to a specific village or band. This name was used before the smallpox epidemic of 1837–1838. Nueta (Nų́ʔetaa), the name used after this epidemic ("ourselves, our people") was originally the name of Mandan villagers living on the west bank of the Missouri River. The Mandan probably used Nųmą́khų́·ki / Rųwą́ʔka·ki to refer to a general tribal entity. Later, this word fell to disuse and instead two divisions' names were used, Nuweta or Ruptare (i.e., Mandan Nų́ʔetaa or Rų́ʔeta ). Later,

12320-516: Was inhabited for thousands of years by various Native American tribes, including the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara along the Missouri River ; the Ojibwe and Cree in the northeast; and several Sioux groups (the Nakota , Dakota , and Lakota ) across the rest of the state. European explorers and traders first arrived in the early 18th century, mostly in pursuit of lucrative furs. The United States acquired

12432-558: Was occupied by the Rupture Mandan for nearly 300 years. Today the site has depressions that are evidence of their lodges and smaller ones where they created cache pits to store dehydrated corn. The name comes from two defensive trenches built outside the area of the lodges. Construction of the fortifications here and at other locations along the Missouri has been found to have correlated to periods of drought, when peoples would have raided each other for food. At some point during this time,

12544-612: Was the largest linguistic group. The other bands were the Is'tope ("those who tattooed themselves"), Ma'nana'r ("those who quarreled"), Nu'itadi ("our people"), and the Awi'ka-xa / Awigaxa (does not translate). The Nup'tadi and Nu'itadi lived on both banks of the Missouri River , while the Awigaxa lived further upstream at the Painted Woods. The bands all practiced extensive farming, which

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